Editorial: Mayor Herenton's plea falls short

Memphis' ethically challenged mayor fails to address the issue of using his public powers for private gain

Mayor Willie Herenton might not be "constant as the northern star, of whose true-fix'd and resting quality there is no fellow in the firmament."

But he has joined a long list of fallen stars who have strained for the best language to prop themselves up with since Shakespeare wrote those lines to express Caesar's hubris.

Herenton followed a common pattern this week in defense of his collection of a $91,000 payment on the sale of an option to purchase the Downtown Greyhound bus station.

"Throughout my 30-year career in public service, I have been an advocate for the advancement of African-Americans and women in the workplace and in the various areas of business," Herenton wrote in a letter published in Wednesday's editions.

He went on to describe the resistance he encountered as superintendent of Memphis City Schools in 1980, when "I introduced a far-reaching affirmative action program designed to give minorities a fair opportunity to compete for the system's business."

The implication is that there is a connection between Herenton's efforts to expand minority participation and the attention that is being paid by this newspaper to his "private" business affairs.

Perhaps he was inspired by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who says the legislature is impeaching him not because he tried to sell a Senate seat but because he had been doing so much good for poor people.

The issue is not Mayor Herenton's minority participation efforts. It is the implication that he used the power of his office to engineer a move by Greyhound to make $91,000.

What else can observers conclude after watching Herenton promote the Greyhound property as an ideal site for a convention center? After learning that the mayor approached the owner of a parking lot adjacent to the station about investors he had lined up to buy the lot?

What's the harm?

It's the $16.5 million -- some of it taxpayers' money -- that is being spent to develop a new station near the airport that the people who elected Herenton may have no use for.

It's the mayor's neglect of issues of importance to the citizens of Memphis while his time and energy go into his "private" real estate business.

It's the question -- What's in this for Herenton and his cronies? -- that is being raised about every new public project that comes along and will continue to be raised as long as he is in office.

As this page has pointed out before, Herenton should have known that it was a mistake to sell real estate to Los Angeles businessman Elvin W. Moon, whose civil engineering firm has received more than $700,000 in noncompetitive road design contracts.

Even more basic than the conflicts of interest that have tainted Herenton's record, it should have been clear to him that Article 6, Section 37, of the City Charter requires him to devote his "entire time and attention to the duties of his office."

He should have known to discuss his option on the property in September, when Moon's connection was revealed, if not before. Instead, "It's a private matter," he commented. "It has nothing to do with my public duties."

Nothing to do with his public duties? When it was Herenton who urged the Memphis Area Transit Authority Board, appointed by the mayor, to approve plans to build the terminal?

Whether these acts are prosecutable is up to a federal grand jury to decide. Whether they are ethical is a judgment call for Herenton's constituents.

It was encouraging to learn that City Council chairman Myron Lowery is trying to determine if Herenton's actions violated the ethics ordinance or charter.

Whether there is a role to play for the council is not clear, given the lack of teeth in the city's government ethics ordinance and the long delay in organizing a panel of citizens to help enforce it.

The best that can be said for Herenton's defense is that it was a good try. It may be true that he has the interests of the city's minority population at heart, though. Especially those of his own.